Larry Kemp Junior Camp was a huge success!

In the early part of this summer WSBA’s Trish Lawrence approached Cycle U wanting to know if any of the coaches would be interested in teaching a 4 day junior cycling camp in Cle Elum WA. Without hesitation Coach Kristi Berg and Toby Swanson jumped on the opportunity and took on being the head coaches for the camp. The idea was that they would help write up the curriculum and help run the clinic by coaching and teaching the skills involved with all aspects of cycling.

This was the 3rd year of the Larry Kemp Junior Camp. Larry Kemp was a cycling enthusiast that was killed while riding his bicycle in Spain. In his memory, WSBA has put together this cycling camp to promote cycling growth and safety within the junior ranks. This camp is funded by the Larry Kemp Memorial fund. The cost for the camp was only $100 per child for 4 days of camp. This minimal cost is made possible because of the additional funding provided by the memorial fund.

The camp started on Thursday August 21st. The kids started to arrive around 6pm at the Flying Horseshoe Ranch in Cle Elum WA. We had 23 kids registered, ranging in ages from 10-14 years old. We had 9 girls and 14 boys, so this was a great mix of kids both by gender and ability. This camp was open to kids of all levels, from beginner to advanced. The cabin counselors for the boys were Colin and Cole. The cabin counselors for the girls were Kristi, Gina and Trish. We will be looking for girls 16 and over to help with this counselor position next year. We got the kids all checked into their cabins and let everyone get to know each other. We then sat around the camp fire and made smores. We got the kids off to bed at 9:30pm, but of course like at all camps the kids were all very excited and I think some of them didn’t actually go to sleep until very early into the morning. Kids will be kids!

Friday morning we got the kids up at 8am to eat breakfast. There were many very tired children, first lesson learned; go to bed at actual bedtime! After breakfast the kids were greeted by Kat Sweet from Cascade Cycling who ran them through her Mountain Bike clinic. The kids got to learn how to ride off drops, over obstacles, balance, and many other skills. They all seemed to really like Kat’s clinic and learned so much. We broke after the clinic and got lunch, then everyone got ready to head out for a mountain bike ride up on top of the hillside above camp. The kids all trekked up a 2 mile gravel road, that had a good climb and after some adventures we finally ended up on the beautiful single track trails and rode for about an hour then headed back down for some free time, swimming in the pool and dinner. The kids were pretty tired after all that riding and had no problems getting to bed on time that night.

Saturday morning we woke back up to an amazing breakfast (cooked by Trish, Gina, Barry, Joy and many more). Then after breakfast we headed out for a Cross clinic put on by Tim Rutledge with Redline Bicycles. Tim ran them through some fun running drills, worked on mounting and dismounting the bike, and did a little race effort. The kids all loved the cross stuff, a lot of them had never heard or seen a cross race so this was very new to many of them. After the cross clinic we broke for a quick snack and then rounded up the troops to head out on a 19 mile road ride out to the river to have lunch and back. These kids were all such troopers. They all made it to the river with no problems. Once we refueled them all and let them cool off in the river they all got back on the bikes and rode all the way back. Again everyone made it with no problem. So very impressive! So we got back has some more free time, and then the kids still wanted to ride so we offered either a mountain bike ride or a 11 mile ride into Cle Elum to the Dairy Queen for a snack before dinner.

The group split into 2 and everyone went on their rides. Then we all came back together for dinner and a movie outside in the lawn. The kids all got their sleeping bags and curled up to watch the movie “Nims Island” out on the grass. The kids were given the option to sleep outside if they wanted. Most of the kids said they would sleep outside but by the end of the movie only a handful made it the whole night outside. Everyone else snuck back into their dry cabins.

Sunday morning was the last day of the camp. We woke up to breakfast again, and then did some time trial races down the road to the end and back. For those that didn’t want to race, we took a group to the river to play in the water. A very mellow morning with a lot of very tired but happy kids. The parents showed up between noon and 1pm to pick everyone up.

We had so much fun getting to know each child, and watching all the kids have so much fun and learn so much about cycling. I can’t stress enough that if you know a child that is interested or has been cycling for awhile that would love to go to a camp; this is the one for them. It is so well organized and the kids learn so much about every aspect of cycling. Overall a great experience and I already can’t wait for next year!!!

Special thanks to everyone that helped make this such a huge success!
1. Trish Lawrence
2. Gina Kavesh
3. Barry Routblatt
4. Darrin Schwend
5. Christi Schwend
6. Jim Schwend
7. Craig Undem
8. Joy Undem
9. Jerry Cutright
10. Cole Cutright
11. Colin Krebsbach
12. Chad Berg
13. Kristi Berg
14. Tim Rutledge
15. Kat Sweet

I am a Tri Geek Part 3...and unrelated cool stuff

OK, the above pics are part of the "unrelated" but cool part of this story taken from us helping out at the Larry Kemp junior Camp this weekend, Left is Head Coach Kristi with firefighting mad man husband, EMT, awesome bunk mate Chad with junior phenom Holden in the foreground...the other shot is the whole group, just had to share, it was a blast, kids and bikes, like peas and carrots...more at the end...now back to my Tri story...

so I made it to the run, sorry for the pause here, but my run was the least exciting part of my first Olympic Tri. If you check results, another cool thing about triathlon, you get really detailed information on times it takes between swimming and cycling (your Transition times) and all legs of your event as opposed to some road races where there is no physical record of your brave feat. My run was less than specatular...until you factor in how little I trained and how sore I was for the 4 days afterwards...then it was pretty ferocious...to me.

So for the run I headed out at a crawl and remembered Tom's words from Triumph to just keep going, and I began to play the game. IF I kept going I could stop and take a pee after the first lap (3 of them). So I pressed on. Finally the water I had swallowed in the swim had worked it's way through my body and it was building pressure, but anther little tip here...hold it. Some how the urgency it creates is a good thing, it can make you go faster assuming it is not a full blown emergency. So I plodded on, willing my legs to keep going.

Soon I noticed that whenver I got passed, it was by hummingbirds, runners with a fast turn over. One thing about only being a cyclocross racer who runs occasionally is that I am used to bounding up stairs, not flying over flat ground at high speeds. My legs were sllllllloooooooowww. I would hear the bam, bam, bam, bam, bam of someone coming up on me as their shoes hit the ground and I was about half their pace BAM...........BAM............BAM...........BAM.....maybe that was why I was so sore the next week???

So I made it around once, then even though I could have claimed my reward, there really wasn't any place to pull over except the woods at the transition, but when I got there it wasn't that full of vegetation and there were lots of people around, so I told myself "next lap FOR SURE! I will pee and be free of this extra 10 oz!" and picked up the pace as I headed back out on the pavement.

Now the last post I did I said "why run when you can fly" and this is where the mental power of Cycle U came in. I preach to anyone who will listen that you set your vision on what you want to have happen and belive it as if it already has. I had invisioned a good run. I began to let my body do a good run despite what my pain sensors were telling me. I started to stride out a bit more on the flats, and dig deep on the rises or small hills. I fought to stay with those who passed me or at least maintain my speed. I held my head up and let my legs go.

At times I couldn't feel my legs much, they were working and flying beneath me but they didn't necessarily feel attached to my body. I had a few aches to work through, which slowed me down a bit, so I wasn't shutting out all pain but the last half of the run I was going for it and fighting to keep my pace as high as I could.

On the final lap, when I knew I was about 1/2 mile away I started to really go as fast as I could. I actually passed a few people and was striding long and fast and felt like I was really racing for the first time on the run. I sprinted across the line knowing I had given it my all. I didn't have to pee anymore. I think that h2o had be reabsorbed cause it was kinda hot by then. It was great to finish, and especially great to get the cheers from fellow teammates, wife and son and total strangers as I came into the finish line. Wow, that was great. And it totally stoked my ego to do OK at something I thought I might not finish during the swim.

Thanks for reading, look for me at Kirkland...I just might make it. I have to post a few pics from our Larry Kemp 10-14 year old camp in Cle Elum this past weekend, that was a blast! If you know of any kids this age who like cycling, it might be their favorite 3 days of summer next year.

This is us after a swim in the river and a road ride. Below is some cyclocross with Tim Rutledge. Great crew of kids!